Learn to Sail

Colgate is, with his Offshore Sailing School, one of the most recognized names in sailing instruction, and it is not his instruction that is the downfall of this tape. Indeed, Colgate almost knows too much, as his instruction of forgotten 1980s television stars Audrey Landers and Sam Jones (his "students" for this video) occasionally strays into topics better left off a beginners video.

Rather than material, though, it is production that handicaps this video. It's filmed aboard a small Soling day sailor, and there is little room for close-up camera work to show the techniques of boat handling. The tape opens with a dockside tour of the boat, covering fundamental sailing terminology (with the aid of some computer graphics). With an introductory vocabulary established, Colgate and his students set out on the water. This segment, filmed from a chase boat, offers little more than some attractive photography of a sailboat maneuvering, together with Colgate's occasionally exasperated instructions to his students. A hidden joy, for anyone who has taught sailing, is watching Colgate coax his two students through the basics of boat handling, correcting them with increasing frustration as the same mistakes are repeated.

All told, though, it's a reasonable introduction to small-boat sailing. As part of an on-the-water course, or for someone who has spent time on a boat but has never really known what was going on, it would work. But while there may not be many better videos out there, as a stand-alone introduction for a complete novice this tape scatters short of the mark. --Nick Strauss

The content however is top notch! It was very helpful. The quality of instruction is just superb. Many books I have seen showing proper technique show photos from this series. The boat they use does not lend itself to 2 more people required, so the soundman and cameraman ride next to the sailboat in a powerboat, which as you guessed it makes more noise than the instructor. The live sailing demonstrations do not show line handling and steering as well as I would have liked. However this is all shown very well dockside.

Albeit the sound is poor and the video needs to be refilmed, this is still a great first time sailor's video. It replaces several weeks of in class instruction, and can be watched over and over again.

Great Video.


Great video for the the new sailor- Ships Ahoy Matie   February 6, 1999
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I found this to be a good video for the beginer. As being new to sailing myself, I picked up some real good pointers such as, raisng the sails, terminology, sailing in different wind positions and man over board ect.. I would recomend this video to anyone interested in sailing. I show this to my friends before I take them sailing and it helps them to be better crew member. They have a better understanding of what is going on and I have greater peace of mind.


Bad Speaker   July 27, 2002
Christopher M Mayer (Belmont, CA United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I coudn't stand this video. From the get go he stutters, pauses, "ah"s and "um"s continuously. The text is not scripted, nor is it conversational. I think he had stage fright in front of the camera. He needs to learn how to speak. As a result, I could not listen any more, and certainly nothing useful was absorbed of the footage I did watch. The intro cut scenes, every 1 - 2 seconds, made no sense and was unnerving. Although there was some good camera footage here and there, it was edited poorly. He may be a god sailor, but he is certainly a lousy narrator.


Short on Production Values - Adequate Content   May 14, 2004
Gregory S. Vaillancourt (Rochester, NY United States)
Colgate seems to be conducting the video off the cuff. It appears to be a single camera shoot. Because of the lack of scripting the video wavers in content. Colgate is not a natural in front of the camera and appears to be a bit of a task master. For example when the 80's actors/stundents make up commands for tasks that need no command, Colgate fails to realize the fun in this and insists on eliminating the commands. There are several gaffs in the film which make for unwitting humor. An example is when Colgate describes tieing a square knot as easy and the actors disagree. This is followed by a quick edit and on to the next scene leaving us to sumise that the actors were scolded for making Colgate look bad and the scene removed. Bearing these points in mind it is still an informative video that serves its purpose of modestly educating the uninitiated. I have never sailed before and have been reading Sailing for Beginners books prior to seeing this tape. The tape cleared up with visuals concepts that were hard to put across in a book. Colgate certainly does know what he is talking about but I agree he does sometimes drift into areas that a beginner has no interest in. As for the 80's quality of the video, I enjoyed it. Audrey Landers is the female student of the two and the video renewed my pubescent fantasies of her having graduated high school in 85. Another flaw is the obvious lack of followup. Sailing is certainly a task that must ultimately be learned hands on but a video SERIES would certainly be a great aide, especially to those of us trying to learn sailing while looking at snow in our front yard. Colgate should have opted for a series of 4 or 5 videos with a professional narator. Worth $20 to buy, not much more. I found it at my local library and was fantastic for that price.